Final Fantasy XIII-2 Review - PS3

Game Description:Cocoon -- a utopia in the sky. Its inhabitants believed their world a paradise. Under the Sanctum's rule, Cocoon had long known peace and prosperity. Mankind was blessed by its protectors, the benevolent fal'Cie, and believed that tranquil days would continue forever. Their tranquility was shattered with the discovery of one hostile fal'Cie. The moment that fal'Cie from Pulse - the feared and detested lowerworld - awoke from its slumber, peace on Cocoon came to an end. Fal'Cie curse humans, turning them into magic-wielding servants. They become l'Cie - chosen of the fal'Cie. Those branded with the mark of a l'Cie carry the burden of either fulfilling their Focus or facing a fate harsher than death itself. A prayer for redemption. A wish to protect the world. A promise to challenge destiny. After thirteen days of fates intertwined, the battle begins. Set several years after Lightning and the others saved Cocoon, some survivors have decided to start over by rebuilding on Gran Pulse. Lightning, however, is nowhere to be found and thought dead by many, but Serah believes otherwise. When her town is suddenly overrun by monsters, a mysterious man named Noel appears to save her.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Review

For Final Fantasy XIII-2, Square Enix set out to correct the issues fans had with the first game, and they have succeeded across the board. With improvements to combat, exploration, and storytelling, it feels like this is the game that XIII should have been.

The Pros

Engaging story and characters

Witness how actions change events through time travel

Significantly improved battle system

Side quests and puzzles add welcomed variety

The Cons

Character customization is lacking

Side plots occasionally vanish without a trace

QTEs remove agency from some battles

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Review:

It seems like everyone who played Final Fantasy XIII, even those who truly liked it, had at least one bone to pick. Complaints were like snowflakes, unique in shape and consistency. Some disliked the changes it introduced to combat while others maligned its linearity, and some simply found the characters too melodramatic to relate with. As someone who falls into all of the above categories, I approached the review of Final Fantasy XIII-2 with no small degree of trepidation, but also with an open mind. After countless hours on Gran Pulse and Cocoon, Final Fantasy XIII-2 has made me fall in love with the JRPG all over again.

Back To The Future

The story kicks off three years after the events of Final Fantasy XIII. Though, everything isn’t quite how fans of the first game might remember them. Lighting has been missing during those years, and her sister Serah is the only one with any memory of her. It’s at this point that Noel shows up with message from Lightning and strangely intimate knowledge of the far-flung future. While only having two playable characters is a shockingly small cast for a Final Fantasy game, it allows them to share the starring role even more effectively than XIII’s ensemble. Serah and Noel both have their own reasons for traveling through time, and it creates a surprisingly believable chemistry without devolving into romance or melodrama. Their chemistry is helped by frequent dialog options, allowing players a limited ability to guide conversations to either avoid or dive head-first into awkwardly out of place responses.

As plot devices go, time travel is just about as messy as it gets. This actually works both in Final Fantasy XIII-2’s favor and to its detriment. The game revels in the paradoxes and inconsistencies that normally would bring a time-travelling tale to its knees, going so far as to turn them into a gameplay mechanic through the Historia Crux. As I jumped back and forth through the timeline, alternate parallel time periods opened while changes could be seen in the future that reflected my actions. A seemingly impossible boss encounter may simply be a matter of rewriting history to ensure it was never born. There was a fantastic sense that my actions had a real impact on the story, with the game at its most rewarding when I chose to explore all possible outcomes.

However, at times the story can become a bit too comfortable with these sorts of story complications. Terms like “paradox” and “space-time distortion” are thrown around so casually and with such frequency that they begin to lose any real meaning. Meanwhile, certain side plots that seem vital at the time they are introduced have a tendency to disappear altogether without even a half-hearted attempt at an explanation.

Shifting More Than Just Paradigms

Final Fantasy XIII’s paradigm battle system returns, but with some notable differences. Enemies are no longer visible on the map, instead opting for the random encounters where players have a few seconds to either run or initiate a preemptive attack before combat actually starts. Combat itself is enhanced by the removal of delays when shifting paradigms. It seems like a small change at first, but it allowed for much greater control as I could switch roles to immediately counter an enemy’s attacks, making each battle more engaging. Players can also save up to three paradigm decks, eliminating much of the hassle from manually changing lineups for boss battles or to counter enemies in particular areas. Most importantly, it is now possible to switch party leaders between Serah and Noel during a battle. If the AI-controlled Serah or Noel weren’t healing properly or using the right buffs and debuffs, an simple switch gave me full control.

Despite the increased control in combat, there are also the occasional cinematic actions to contend with. These glorified quick-time events are a visual spectacle, but are usually used as the coup de grace on bosses, taking away some of the satisfaction of a well crafted paradigms strategy.

The biggest change though comes from the Pokemon-like ability to tame practically every enemy in the game. Each monster falls under a single role, where it can leveled up to learn abilities just like Noel and Serah or combine with other monsters to learn wholly new skills. Up to three monsters can be assigned to your party at a time, and switch in and out during combat depending on the paradigm. I found myself experimenting with roles and paradigms much more in Final Fantasy XIII-2 due to the variety of monsters their abilities. And the more I experimented, the more I enjoyed the combat.

Final Fantasy XIII-2’s streamlining also extends beyond combat. In place of XIII’s complex weapon upgrade system, new weapons are frequently found in shops; all of which are run by the enthusiastic vendor Choco-boco-lina. Leveling up through the crystarium has also seen complications cut, as each role now has a linear progression of skills. Unfortunately the new crystarium was simplified a bit too much, as it doesn’t allow much room for customizing Serah and Noel, which probably explains the game’s emphasis on monster variety.

A Wide World To Explore

One thing that cannot be said about Final Fantasy XIII-2 is that it lacks variety. Frequently throughout the adventure I encountered paradoxes that could only be solved through puzzle minigames. Some puzzles had me traversing a maze-like platform while the most clever of them involved navigating numbers on a clock face. Looking back, they were an utterly bizarre inclusion, but their appearances were spaced out so well that each one was greeted as a brief but welcome change of pace.

Map locations are much more open this time around, with plentiful opportunities to explore. That curiosity is almost always rewarded, leading to new items, monsters, or opening new side quests. Each location has its own side story to tell, often spanning multiple time periods and alternate realities. Whether it’s aiding researchers in Yaschas Massif or exploring the Bresha Ruins, they add a context and weight to your actions in the world that was severely lacking in Final Fantasy XIII. Even Serenity, Final Fantasy XIII-2’s casino, provides a nice diversion where players can race the chocobos they have been raising for battle. The side quests are also almost entirely optional, but they can be the difference between completing the game in under 30 hours or well over 60.

For Final Fantasy XIII-2, Square Enix set out to correct the issues fans had with the first game, and they have succeeded across the board. With improvements to combat, exploration, and storytelling, it feels like this is the game that XIII should have been. But it isn’t just a sequel, as it carves out its own tale to stand among the Final Fantasy pantheon.

Editor's Note: This review was completed mainly using the Xbox 360 version of the game; however, we have spot checked the PlayStation 3 edition and have found no significant differences between the two platforms. If more playtime reveals any differences, we will update this review to reflect those.

Comments are Closed

Re-post. It was new and fresh at the time it was released, it's no fair to judge it to modern equivalents.It has it own charm.FF 7 Dirge of the cerberus is where it's at in those series. Technology is good for FF games but it's not everything.The older ones are good also for what it's worth.

IMO FF13 is a good game, haven't played part 2, so can't comment on that. I actually posted on the short description but they deleted the comments. What's wrong with being smart with your money? Who do they think they are deleting MY comments, you don't know who I am, how dare you?The only thing that matter at the the end of the day is you, yes you giving them your hard earned cash(excuse my rant). Even on a game reviewing site- Pathetic. As soon as you mention anything- anything negative about DLC's they delete comments. A lot of noobs complain on 13 because mainly- they can't complete the game IMO. I did enjoy beating that game personally. Is part 2 worth playing without DLC content?

Fellow gamers, grap your balls and be proud of what you've got. Don't let them stomp all over them.

It was new and fresh at the time it was released, it�s no fair to judge it to modern equivalents.It has it�s charm.FF 7 Dirge of the cerberus is where it�s at in those series. Technology is good for FF games but it�s not everything.The older ones are good also for what it�s worth.

IMO FF13 is a good game, haven�t played part 2, so can�t comment on that. I actually posted on the short description but they deleted the comments. What�s wrong with being smart with your money? Who do they think they are deleting MY comments, you don�t know who I am, how dare you?The only thing that matter at the the end of the day is you, yes you giving them your hard earned cash(excuse my rant). Even on a game reviewing site- Pathetic. As soon as you mention anything- anything negative about DLC�s they delete comments. A lot of noobs complain on 13 because mainly- they can�t complete the game IMO. I did enjoy beating that game personally. Is part 2 worth playing without DLC content?

Fellow gamers, grap your balls and be proud of what you�ve got. Don�t let them stomp all over them.

Seems great for fans, but unfortunate that they could not have just released a beta, or found some way to create this latest version of Final Fantasy without having already charged everybody for the less impressive version.

I don't get the hype over FFVII. I really don't. Everyone says that VII is the best Final Fantasy ever and the best GAME ever and that XIII and XIII-2 should be more like it. Well I'm glad its not. I wanted to get VII to see what all the hype was about, but my friend got it first on PSN, so I decided to watch him play it for a bit to see what it was like. I didn't see it. I didn't see what was so great about that game, in fact I watched him play it for a week and it bored me to tears! Even my friend didn't like it and he beat it all the way to the end credits. He said it bored him as well. He was so disappointed with the game that he actually deleted the game off his hard drive afterwards. Then we both picked up a copy of XIII and we were both hooked til the end. No boredom to be had. Just amazing, awesome fun. I believe that if XIII was like VII i wouldn't of even gave it a chance because it would have just been VII but with better graphics. And even though the graphics in XIII and XIII-2 are amazing, that's not what drew me into those games. Its the fun combat system and deep narratives. I just got XIII-2 last week and am having a blast. I actually like Serah because she was under-used in XIII, so getting to play as her and the new character for the entirety of XIII-2 is a welcome addition to this game. I like this aspect in games like the Kingdom Hearts series has you playing as side characters that were otherwise in the background of previous titles. It fleshes that character out more being able to play as them in the sequels. So I'll probably get hated on for insulting apparently the BEST GAME EVER! but this is my true and honest opinion.

I had high hopes for this game, since the developers were taking into consideration all the negative feedback from the previous title, but for every aspect of the game they fixed, they also screwed up another part.The Story is every bit as bad as the previous FF. I think it's even a little harder to follow as well.The dialog is very childish and the voice acting is so cheesy it's actually painful to listen to most of the time. I wish they would go back to all the dialog being fed to you in text boxes like all the older games.Although I am a fan of the capturing monsters idea they had, I think it could have been done much better. From my experience, The first couple monsters you capture will remain your best ones until you get to the end of the game. The game should have found a way to force you to use a larger variety. The very first Medic, Ravager, and Commando monsters I got were the ones I kept until I got the gold chocobo at the end of the game, leaving about 50 monsters completely unused in my inventory.The capturing monsters feature was also a very weak substitute for being able to change between 7-8 different party members. Other than being able to choose monsters, you are stuck using the same 2 characters throughout the entire game. Serah and Noel are pretty much the two most unlikable characters I've had to play in a FF game. They are both childish and "sissy" as well as generic.Even though they made this game less "linear," they still failed to give any real incentive to go to all the different time periods and areas. It seemed to me that straying off the main storyline path was just a waste of time.There really aren't any end-game optional bosses, which makes the game nearly pointless to play after you've gone through the story.I downloaded a couple of the Downloadable Content bosses because I thought they might be the tough battles I was looking for, but both encounters I downloaded were a joke. The entire game really is just too easy.FF13-2 really doesn't even feel like a Final Fantasy. You can't change party members, all weapons look the same, no airship/open world, no challenging side bosses, and no summoning abilities.I think the developers really need to go back and study FFVII and figure out why it's the greatest game of all time and stop pumping out all these cheap Final Fantasy imitations.

I am no different than all of yall. Fan of FF series, but we gota learn to adapt. Change is bad/good but we wont know if it is good or bad unless we try. SE is giving us a chance to test it out, as you can see thisgame is huge improvement from 13. I have to admit 13 story is a bit better, I do miss the summoning very much, but replaced it with taming monster. i think that is just as good. Espcially when you can tame lighting, sazh, jihl, amodar?? do you want to know why this game is amazing? even when you max out with the best stufff fighting bosses still pretty dam tough.. I dont really like being sarah because sarah was just too kick ass. But overall this game, i consider is one of the best game of Final Fantasy. I think people need to get out of their bubble and learn to adapt. Stop trying to find negative in the game, instead enjoy the amazing obvious side. I am very lazy to write review but i have to because this gamei s pretty facking amazing.

Really? FF X III-2 is good? I heard it still felt to girly for the first quarter of the game. I'm a big fan of the Final Fantasy series, and was afraid FF XIII-2 would be another FF X-2. Granted I loved XIII's story and feel, however I still have mixed feelings about giving this title a chance.

FF13 Was A Good Game With A Boss Story. Linear But Good. Auto-Battle Makes it Boring? Pshawwwwwwww. You Could Select the moves you want But the haters are too lazy. the long paradigm shifts cost me battles & chain gauge bonus. (Sazh & Vanilles Duo i Died over 9000 times) but, near the end i saw what square enix was capable of. more than 30 hours went into gran pulse and i enjoy'd all of it. 13-2 is so free & NON LINEAR. it should be a 5/5. after 5 hours. i feel that those 60$ were well spent

Firstly, I very much enjoyed the first FF XIII. Despite linear maps, I thought SE did something unique in their switching between character stories in the early parts of the game. It forced players to try out different combinations of roles, paradigms, and battle tactics instead of merely relying on the same set strategy.

The first game was visually stunning, of course, but thankfully no one complained about that.

People did seem to have qualms with the story, though, citing it as too melodramatic and containing characters they didn't care about. I thought, however, that some of those little intimate moments between characters were some of the most endearing parts of the game. Moreover, I enjoyed the way SE revealed little bits of the mystery gradually. It made me appreciate the second play though even more, since I was able to see the way they worked subtle foreshadowing into the dialogue.

FFXIII-2 has been a real treat so far. The "tuning" update to the paradigm system offers a sound improvement over a battle system that already unique and fun to play. The entire Final Fantasy series has consistently reinvented its battle mechanics with each successive title, and mastering the nuances of each new battle system is part of the challenge and part of the fun.

The Historia Crux provided an intriguing way to experience an already familiar world in a novel way. It was rewarding to see the consequences of our choices unfold. I feel inclined to ask, though, if anyone else was humming the Dr. Who theme song during load screens :P

I enjoy games like Skyrim, with their fully open world and in-depth character customization. They feel like playing a great MMO without the monthly fee. BUT, people who directly compare FFXIII-2 and Skyrim need to realize they're comparing apples and oranges. I've been playing Final Fantasy games since the very first on the original NES, and among their many strengths, Final Fantasy games have always been about telling a compelling story. FFXIII-2 succeeds here spectacularly.

For my time and money, SE has created yet another winner, and I look forward to the next.

Much better than 13 but I've given up on square-enix. After so long and so many failed attempts I still havent seen kingdom hearts 3. Why should I even bother living any more if there is no hope for kh3?Why I ask you WHY?

I am a big final fantasy fan but i am not too impressed with it. Where is the weapon upgrading from 13 and i like the crystalarium from 13 better. Either the enemies are way too easy or they take forever to kill them. Bought colletctors edition on Monday and going to return that mistake.

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